A$AP Rocky – 5IVE $TAR$

Someone please tell A$AP Rocky no. After the excellent, world-beating Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 and the insular, aesthetically refined Cozy Tapes: Vol. 2, we finally get a taste of what A$AP Rocky has in store for his 3rd studio album, Testing. It’s really boring. Rocky takes on a playboicarti affect, with a stuttering flow that does Rocky and producers Southside and Metro Boomin no favors. The beat sounds like someone googled “Lil Pump type beat” on youtube, multiple tiers below the high-production value we’ve grown accustomed to from AWGE releases; even the Twelvvy record knocked harder. Rocky’s guest features in 2017 were standouts in a discography filled with dextrous rhymes, so it’s disheartening to hear something so uninspired given the names involved. Here’s hoping to better bars next time.